CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (10-5, 1-2 OVC) dropped a hard fought five-set battle (23-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 13-15) to its Ohio Valley Conference travel partner, UT Martin (6-10, 2-1 OVC) Wednesday evening at Houck Field.
After losing the opening two sets, SEMO responded with third and fourth frame victories to force a decisive fifth set.
Colby Greene registered a career-best 23 kills on a .283 hitting clip.
Laney Malloy chipped in 20 kills and 22 digs while
Zoey Beasley finished with 17 kills.
After knotting the match at 2-2, SEMO started the fifth set with a 4-2 lead after a kill from Greene coupled with a block assist by Greene and
Lexie Smith.
The Redhawks then pushed the edge to 7-3 after three-straight points.
Consecutive kills from Greene and Malloy made the score 9-5.
With a 12-8 lead in hand, UT Martin pulled ahead 13-12 after a 5-0 run.
Beasley blasted a kill to even the match at 13-13 before the Skyhawks won the match after two-straight points.
UTM closed out the match on a 7-1 rally.
The Skyhawks opened the match with a 16-13 lead in the first set.
A 4-0 rally from the Redhawks provided a slight advantage for SEMO, 17-16. Beasley connected on back-to-back kills to keep the margin in favor of the Redhawks, 20-19.
Logan Wallick hit three kills down the stretch to bring on set point at 24-23 before a block by Addison Conley and Karen Scanlon.
UTM hit at a rate of .290 in the first set before a match-high .343 in the second stanza. The opening set featured 13 ties and six lead changes.
The Skyhawks went into the media timeout in the second frame with a 15-12 lead that grew to 20-16.
Consecutive kills from Malloy and Greene made it a two-point lead at 21-19.
UTM closed the set on a 4-1 run to extend its advantage to 2-0.
SEMO then cut the Skyhawks lead to 2-1 with a 25-22 third period.
Trailing 17-13 with their backs against the wall, SEMO cut the deficit to 17-16 with a 3-0 run. Greene knocked a kill before a solo block from Malloy during the sequence.
Malloy then added a kill before a block assist by
Mackenzie Meehan and Beasley tied the set at 19-19.
Meehan made her second career start as a Redhawk, finishing with two kills and three blocks.
A SEMO attack error would provide the Skyhawks a slight 22-20 lead before the Redhawks captured the set with five-straight points.
Ochs and Greene both hit kills before three consecutive Skyhawk errors.
In the fourth frame, SEMO and UT Martin were tied at 11-11 before a 4-0 Redhawks rally gave the home team a 15-11 advantage heading into the media break.
Beasley, Smith and Greene had kills while Ochs placed an ace for the edge.
UTM then responded with four-straight point to knot the set at 15-15.
Greene then slammed a kill after a Skyhawks attacking error to make it 19-16.
UTM compiled three-straight blocks after a Redhawks error to swap the lead to the Skyhawks, 20-19.
SEMO responded with a 4-0 run of its own to switch the lead in favor of the Redhawks, 23-20. Malloy had two kills while Ochs chipped in a kill and a block assist with Meehan during the rally.
Ochs added another kill to push the margin to 24-21. UTM added two more points before a kill from Beasley forced the decisive fifth and final set.
Ochs finished with 50 assists and 14 digs to go along with six kills, three blocks and an ace.
Tara Beilsmith led the defense with 23 digs and a personal-best eight assists with two aces.
Kayla Closset and
Ally Dion each had seven digs.
Smith tallied a career best two kills with two digs and a block in her third career match at SEMO.
Scanlon led UTM with 13 kills and 16 digs. Haeleigh Paulino dished out 23 assists with 13 digs.
The Skyhawks tallied a whopping 19 blocks compared to SEMO's eight.
The Redhawks had a slight edge in aces, 5-3.
Elissa Moylan had a personal best two aces.
The Redhawks conclude their three-match week with a weekend series against Belmont Friday and Saturday at Houck Field House. Match times are set for 6 p.m. and 2 p.m. in SEMO's second OVC series of the season.
